Dark Knight

[Shurrikhan]

So again, your opinion of a DRK seems to be the minority as Mr. Yoshida clearly states no disagreement as to the DRK as being a damage dealer, or remark that it could be anything else.

The only thing is that 'heavy' damage dealer don't exist in MMOs in the same sense as they would in a single player game, sadly. (Steiner, for example, could be considered either a tank or dps, while being neither, really.) I won't say that Dark Knights have often been tanks, but they have traditionally been 'tanky'. But at the same time, the only armor likely for them to use as 'tanky' dps is that of Dragoons, who drop like flies.

I don't think Dark Knight will see any interesting use, innovative or traditional, until ARR's holy trinity of roles is a bit more flexible, and likely its armory system as well, neither of which seem likely.
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To Alistaire:
I certainly can't see much of the Dark Knight in a mere set of slash-stab and slash-slash-many_slashes combos. Having "Blade" in the ability name alone does not make for a fitting ability scheme.
You could at least have support functions through abilities than mimic mana, TP, or stat-burning (via Riot and Halon), and could reverse almost any defensive ability by applying the opposite of their effects to the enemy as personal debuffs (affecting only you), but then you just have an incredibly nukey class in ways unrelated to blood or life-steal mechanics, similar to pre-nerf Bard due to its amount of CDs. More useful would probably be a single 80-second or so CD active ability that reverses them with its own cooldown and maximum effects, such that it ought to be rotated for ideal effects (Rampart (Ravage)+Awareness (Piercing Eyes) -->Bulwark (Breaker)+Sentinel (Keeper)-->Rampart (Ravage)-->etc.) But even then, how interesting can they really get in this game?